The present invention relates to a computer-controlled apparatus and method for depositing foods/sauces into plastic trays that are moving at high speed using servomotors coupled to a computer.
To fill trays with food or sauces, a typical apparatus of the prior art generally requires three reciprocating cylinders to pump the food product to respective outlets and a carousel to move the three filling outlets over the trays at the same speed as the trays in order to fill the trays without leaking or spilling over the edges.
The prior art apparatus is large in size, requires complicated pneumatic control systems and complicated mechanical parts in order to operate. There is considerable maintenance involved with this equipment (down time), there are many parts to clean at the end of each production run and making weight deposit adjustments requires tools to set mechanical stops. Accuracy across all three cylinders tends to vary due to unique wear on each of the cylinders. This means that there is always the possibility of weight variation in each tray. Because the three cylinders are driven from one common source, adjusting weights is complicated. All of these issues combined add up to long setup times, usually requiring qualified maintenance personnel.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,297 to Cole discloses a multi outlet depositor that displaces first and second portions of material and includes first and second positive displacement vane pumps. The pumps are coupled together so that the volume of the first portion varies according to the volume of the second portion.
The state of the prior art is also shown in patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,861 to Tsuruta on a Forming, Filling and Sealing Machine for Standing Pouch and U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,680 to Meile, et al on a Method and Apparatus for Forming and Hermetically Sealing Slices of Food Items. Also of interest are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,155,969 to Kue and 4,997,664 to Williams. The prior art fails to disclose an apparatus of the type disclosed herein which uses a single positive displacement gear pump driven by a servomotor, controlled by a computer via a user-friendly touch screen to feed food product to a stationary tube over the trays. The tube has a plastic cut-off nozzle that revolves around the tube outlet driven by a second servomotor.
The invention relates to an apparatus for filling food trays with foods or sauces as the trays move along a conveyor at high speeds of approximately 150 trays per minute.
The apparatus comprises a compact integral unit including a positive displacement gear pump for feeding the food product driven by a first servomotor and a cut-off nozzle driven by a second servomotor. The servomotor is capable of making rapid moves with extreme accuracy and repeatability. A computer controls the servomotors via a user-friendly touch screen. Weight control and adjustments are made xe2x80x9con the flyxe2x80x9d by the line operator on the touch screen. The pump feeds product through a sanitary tube to a horizontal stationary tube, which has an opening on the side of the tube face down over the plastic trays. The stationary tube has a plastic cutoff nozzle that rotates about the opening to deposit a predetermined precise amount of food product into a series of fast moving trays. A second servomotor drives this plastic cut-off nozzle to open and close the feed to the trays. The computer calculates and deposits the required weight product in the trays. As further advantages, no pneumatics are involved and the apparatus is simple to maintain, clean and operate.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method and a stationary compact apparatus for filling food trays at high speed.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for filling food trays using computer-controlled servomotors.
A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for depositing a predetermined precise amount of food product in trays on a moving conveyor by feeding the product to an outlet having a computer controlled servomotor opening and closing the nozzle.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for filling food trays under control of a computer that calculates the desired weight deposit and adjusts a first and a second servomotor for the required speed and placement.
A more specific object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method and apparatus for filling food trays moving at high speed on a conveyor which includes a first and second servomotor controlled by a computer with a user friendly touch screen to feed food products to an outlet nozzle and deposit said product in accordance with a computer program for the particular product.